I can't justify the extra expense. Told dh that if it comes down to it that I might just have to say that the baby came too fast for us to get to the hospital and UC.

I'm planting the seed now for later. Dh's comment was that he'd call me sister (chiro who has homebirthed both of her babies, one was accidental UC since the MW didn't get there on time). Maybe I should just buy the hb kit and plan accordingly so that I have prenatal care and a care provider at the hospital, but quietly plan to UC....

maybe at the hospital you chose they may have a doula service (for free in some cases) and you can get some labor support for your unplanned UC LOL
good luck...I will tell you we were told by our insurance co that the HB would NOT be covered, we paid the MW ($1500--which was a stretch) and she submitted anyway--the ENTIRE birth was covered minus a $25 co pay, we got our $$ back from the MW and looked at it as a gift from the universe, I don't know if you want to take that chance but it DID happen to us
good luck

I have Medi-Cal & I am certain that they won't cover anything for a homebirth. I am tempted to use part of our tax return to pay for the homebirth, but I keep thinking of all of the other ways we could use that money--like 2 months mortgage payments... :sigh: A homebirth here costs at least $2500!

Is there a Birth Center option for you possibly in your area. I am going to a birth center, i have midwives and doulas, and it is all through our local hospital so it is covered the same as a regular hospital birth. (ugh i can't believe i said a regular hospital birth but that is how it is sadly)

The midwife's fee is actually around $3850, insurance will pay for slightly more than half. If we could pay in advance by 35/36 weeks, she knocks it down to $3350. And insurance won't guarantee payment (a friend that used this midwife is currently dealing with insurance, same company as I have, refusing to pay their portion).

Tax refund is already earmarked for other expenses. Thing is, we could do the lower amount on the credit card, I just can't see paying interest and jacking our balance back up again. We've been trying really hard to get things paid down - especially since my student loans will come out of deferment in December (payments will be over $1000/month), and we will need a new vehicle within a year as our two are slowly dying.

It's crazy that we can pay so little for hospital birth and so much for homebirth when the ACTUAL cost of hb is much cheaper. DH is in the military and hospital would be free for me. We are paying $5000 out of pocket for homebirth and hoping insurance will cover some after the birth, although it will be less than half if any. We paid out of pocket last time as well but it was only $2600. Both babies were planned so we planned for the expense, but still...

Well that really stinks! You have awesome insurance if it's only going to cost you $50 for a hospital birth! I know we have a $225 deductible and then we cover 20% after that. So $225 X 2 + 20% last time cost us well over $2,000 (for a non-medicated water birth) It would have been higher with added interventions. Our HB MW only charges $1400 so DH was on board right away